[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 99 (Wednesday, July 22, 1998)]
[House]
[Page H6075]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   DEMOCRAT PATIENTS' BILL OF RIGHTS

  (Mr. ROTHMAN asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. ROTHMAN. Mr. Speaker, this week I join more than 160 Members of 
Congress in signing a discharge petition to force the Republican 
leadership of the House to allow the Democrats' Patients' Bill of 
Rights to be voted on in the Congress. The Democrats' Patients' Bill of 
Rights states that managed care should be more about managing the 
health of our loved ones, and not about managing and protecting the 
profits of HMOs; about protecting the health of patients, not the 
financial stability of the HMOs.
  Mr. Speaker, HMO reform must provide that if the HMO wrongly denies 
coverage and that wrongful denial causes the injury or death to a 
patient, that that patient or his family can hold the HMOs accountable 
for their decision. That is, in a nutshell, the difference between the 
Republican and Democratic patient plans. The democratic proposal would 
allow patients to hold HMOs accountable; the Republican plan does not.
  Moderates on both sides of the aisle have endorsed the Democratic 
Patients' Bill of Rights, but the Republican leadership in the House 
refuses to allow the Democratic Patients' Bill of Rights to be voted 
on.
  I urge Americans, call your Member of Congress and demand a vote on 
the Democrat Patients' Bill of Rights. Hold HMOs accountable.

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